A self-recording and self-releasing instrumental guitar and drum duo, you could probably call Dutch stoner rockers Het Droste Effect experimental or progressive if you take it in the context of the genre at large. On their debut EP, Het Droste Effect, there are a few twists to be found among the riffs and noodles from guitarist Hermann Blaupunkt, and with the slew of guests contributing bass, sax, vibrawhathaveyou and so forth, the band is definitely trying to make themselves stand out sonically, which pays off on these four tracks.

“Balsem voor de Oren” is pretty straightforward riff rock à la Karma to Burn with an edge of the smartness that 35007 brought to the table, but Het Droste Effect delves into psychedelic territory with the longer “Sweet Dreams Bandito,” and at just over a minute, “Helluva Dirty K9” shows a willingness to be playful with their songwriting that one might liken to Queens of the Stone Age and their many followers, but that’s more of a comparison of ethic than sound.

The EP rounds out with “Lolita Can Dance,” where Blaupunkt and drummer Thompson Dubé are joined by Siem Nozza on bass and Edward Capel on the aforementioned saxophone, which complements the guitar surprisingly well. The song breaks in the middle to some studio-type shenanigans, showing one more time Het Droste Effect‘s penchant for experimentation, but for a band who’s been together little more than a year, they have a surprising grasp on what works for them.

If you want to check out Het Droste Effect, they’re on Facebook here. The EP is available for free download through their Bandcamp page and for sale on cassette via their website, and because this is an age of technical wonders, you can stream the whole thing on the player below:

Tags: Eindhoven, Het Droste Effect, The Netherlands, Unsigned bands

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 at 2:39 pm and is filed under On the Radar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.